Feds won't make Brunner reveal voter mismatches

The U.S. Justice Department is not expected to intervene before Tuesday's election in a dispute about verifying new voter registrations in Ohio, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said today.

"That is our clear understanding," Brunner said a press conference to discuss preparations for the election.

The U.S. Justice Department is not expected to intervene before Tuesday's election in a dispute about verifying new voter registrations in Ohio, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said today.

"That is our clear understanding," Brunner said a press conference to discuss preparations for the election.

House Minority Leader John Boehner had asked the Justice Department and President Bush to seek an order to force Brunner to release details about discrepancies in registrations, arguing it's necessary to weed out any fraud.

At issue is what should be done with the "mismatches" that occur when the names and other information provided by newly registered voters are checked by computer against state motor vehicle and federal Social Security records.

The Ohio Republican Party had sued unsuccessfully to force Brunner, a Democrat, to give counties lists of voters with mismatches to investigate, but Brunner said that's not possible because the state's voter registration database was not constructed properly by outside contractors.

In fact, Brunner said the current database, which she inherited from Republican predecessor J. Kenneth Blackwell, was not designed to allow searches for mismatches and likely will be "scrapped" after the election and rebuilt.

"If we were to just sit back after the election and do nothing, I wouldn't blame (the Justice Department) for suing us to get it done, but that's not our intention," Brunner said. "Our intention all along has been to try to comply."

She said her office has been working with Justice Department attorneys on following federal law and issued a directive to counties last Friday related to removing duplicate registrations or dead people from the rolls.

"The Civil Rights Division is pleased with Secretary Brunner's cooperation, and will continue to monitor the situation in Ohio and take whatever action is deemed appropriate to ensure that there is compliance with the provisions of the Help America Vote Act," spokeswoman Jamie Hais said.

Republicans are accusing Brunner of trying to conceal potential fraud by refusing to release details about the database mismatches, which she has estimated to be about 200,000 of the 786,000 people who have registered since Jan. 1.

"I'm disappointed by the Justice Department's refusal to stop Secretary Brunner's calculated effort to undermine the integrity of Ohio's election," Boehner, a West Chester Republican, said in a statement.

But Brunner and other experts have noted that many of the mismatches are caused by typos or other legitimate discrepancies and not fraud.

Shealso said there are concerns the database could become unstable by trying to provide mismatch details and must be rebuilt. Neither she nor her staff could say what that could cost or what the state paid to build it in the first place.

But Monty Lobb, the assistant secretary of state under Blackwell, said the database and matching system was working and that Brunner is trying to shift blame for any problems now.

"To me, much easier to project (blame) onto someone else," he said.

Meanwhile, Brunner downplayed news that SysTest, the Colorado laboratory used to test Ohio voting equipment as part of a major study last fall, could have its accreditation suspended for "failure to create and validate test methods, improper documentation of testing and unqualified personnel."

"Whatever the difficulty is, SysTest has been very good to work with and I'm sure whatever the problem is, they'll remedy it quickly," she said.